Solo un salterio
Franziska Fleischanderl (salterio)
rec. 2022/24, Wallfahrtskirche Maria Kumitz, Obersdorf, Austria
Reviewed as a download
Note One NO26001 [64]

It is not always easy to identify instruments of the past. The present disc is devoted to the salterio, an Italian term for an instrument that in English is sometimes called a psaltery and sometimes a dulcimer. In New Grove, the term psaltery is used for an instrument that is plucked by the fingers or by plectra, whereas the word dulcimer refers to another kind of psaltery which is struck with hammers. Apparently, only in English are two different terms are used, as Franziska Fleischanderl, today the most renowned specialist on the salterio, plays one and the same instrument both ways.

She had two reasons to make this recording. First, the instrument she plays is exactly 300 years old this year; secondly, this autumn (2025) her dissertation on the salterio will be published. Both disc and dissertation are fruits of thorough research of many years. It all started in 2014 when she, at the instigation of Andrea Marcon, acquired an original salterio of 1725, built in Rome by Michele Barbi. Until then she had played the modern Hackbrett, and her repertoire was contemporary music. Having come into the possession of this precious instrument, she took a different path. “I answered the fateful call of the Barbi salterio, setting aside all my previous commitments with the modern Hackbrett and contemporary music. From that moment on, I devoted myself fully to fundamental research on the baroque salterio in Italy.”

One of the challenges was to find out how the instrument had to be played. There were three playing techniques: battuto with hammers, pizzicato with fingernails and pizzicato with plectrums attached to finger rings. “These three playing techniques create a fascinatingly multi-layered sound palette – perhaps the instrument’s greatest talent and most characteristic hallmark.” It took much time and consideration, but in the end, it was the instrument itself that delivered her the answers. She searched for original hammers and finger rings and had them reconstructed.

The second aspect of her research regarded the dissemination of the salterio and what repertoire was played on it. She came to the conclusion that the use of the instrument was far more widespread than was assumed. “It was not some exotic fringe instrument, but rather one that was well known and widely played throughout Italy – at aristocratic courts, in theatres, monasteries and churches, by professional musicians as well as by nuns, monks and even cardinals. It was simply a salterio, a familiar instrument of everyday musical life.”

Franziska Fleischanderl is not the first to play the salterio. Over the years, I have encountered various discs in which the instrument participated. However, it mostly was part of the basso continuo, and if it played an obbligato part, that was usually not a part specifically intended for it. In recent years, Fleischanderl and her ensemble Il Dolce Conforto recorded sacred music with an obbligato part for salterio: Sacred Salterio (review) and Salterio italiano on Christophorus in 2018 (they also released Vivaldi‘s Salterio on Christophorus in 2023). These recordings and live performances, with largely unknown repertoire, attest to the importance of the instrument in the 18th century. The present disc entirely focuses on the salterio as a solo instrument.

The pieces are played with the three different playing techniques listed above. For the playing with hammers three different materials are used: wood, thin leather and thick leather. The other two are finger pizzicato and plectrum pizzicato. The alternation of the different techniques and materials allows the listener to notice the differences. These are hard to describe but let me make an attempt. The hammer with wood produces a rather dry sound, which makes the articulation very clear. In comparison, the hammer with thick leather reminds me of the earliest fortepianos, by Cristofori. The hammer with thin leather is something in between the two. The finger pizzicato results in a strong, pretty loud and reverberant sound. In contrast, the plectrum pizzicato makes me think of the mandolin.

The programme consists of pieces from Italy, Spain and Germany, and two which Fleischanderl wrote herself. Most of the selected items have been preserved without the name of the composer. Only a few composers are known, among them Florido Ubaldi who was famous as a salterio virtuoso. The sonata that opens the programme is one of a collection of twelve that Fleischanderl discovered in Berlin. He may also be the composer of one of the concerti from the personal notebook of Maria Constantina Voglerin, a nun from Germany, which includes no fewer than 103 pieces.

The highlight of the programme, and – as far as I can judge – the most virtuosic piece is the anonymous Follias de España, which is dated 1764 and was written in Madrid. Here Franziska Fleischanderl can show her great skills. It is played battuto with a hammer with thick leather. Manuel Canales was also from Spain, and that is also where the anonymous Fandango was written.

There follow two well-written pieces by Fleischanderl herself. The Sonata comprises three movements, and all three are played with hammers, but each with different material. The disc closes with a series of dances written in Spain, and these are all played pizzicato, alternately with fingernails and with plectrum, which is an interesting demonstration of the differences between these two ways of playing. In the last of these dances, called Marcha, I recognize the French revolutionary song Ah! ça ira, whose melody is older and was apparently loved by Marie-Antoinette.

It brings to a close a most interesting programme of pieces never recorded before, except the Follias de España. Franziska Fleischanderl‘s research and experiments have borne fruit. It is nice that the salterio can be heard here in full glory. Fleischanderl‘s skills are impressive. And although the music was mostly intended for the entertainment of the player, she performs it here in such a lively and differentiated manner that it is not hard to listen to the whole programme at a stretch. I very much enjoyed it, and I hope to hear more from Franziska Fleischanderl and her precious salterio.

Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
https://bsky.app/profile/musicadeidonum.bsky.social

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Contents
Florido Ubaldi (fl. 1708-1746)
Sonata
anon (Germany, 18th c.)
Concerto (VI)
Concerto (V)
Concerto (IX) (attr. Florido Ubaldi)
Concerto (II)
Concerto (III)
Gigue
Concerto (X)
Anonymous (Barcelona, 1764)
Follias de España
Manuel Canales (1747-1786)
Minue 4º
Anonymous (Oviedo, 18th c.)
Fandango
Franziska Fleischanderl (b. 1983)
Praeludium No. 1
Sonata
Anonymous (Spain, 18th c.)
Alemanda
Minué
Bayle
La Preciosa
Arlequina francesa
Baile
Sequidillas
Minué
Due contradanze
Minué
Contradanza
Marcha